DMK seeks Presidential reference to SC on SIR deletions

Chennai: DMK president M K Stalin has urged President Droupadi Murmu to make a Presidential reference to Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Constitution, seeking its opinion on the validity of deleting 97 lakh names from Tamil Nadu’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).In a 19-page memorandum, Stalin also sought a Presidential reference to Parliament under Article 86(2) for initiating action against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He accused Kumar of taking “illegal, unilateral, and unconstitutional” decisions by overriding the views of the other two election commissioners.Stalin said the deletions had disproportionately affected constituencies considered strongholds of DMK and alleged that the exercise had influenced the outcome of the assembly election. TVK won a larger share of seats where deletions were higher, he said.Noting that DMK’s objections were not an afterthought prompted by the election results, Stalin said he had opposed the exercise while serving as chief minister and had also raised concerns when reports emerged of large-scale and targeted deletion of voters in Bihar in 2025.He sought a direction to ECI that the “tainted post-SIR roll” not be used for any future election or by-election and that the pre-SIR roll be restored, besides an independent forensic audit of the ECINET and ERONET systems. He called for measures to restore public confidence in the electoral process, including the conduct of elections through paper ballots and counting of 100% of VVPAT slips pending such a change. The memorandum follows decisions taken by DMK MPs at a meeting chaired by Stalin on Oct 17.“This is the first and largest scam the country has ever witnessed, perpetrated by the CEC, breaching the constitutional faith and trust reposed in him,” Stalin said. Party sources said the memorandum was sent by email after a DMK delegation could not get an appointment with President till Wednesday.“The election result in Kolathur was manipulated by deleting a large number of voters without reason to ensure that I did not win the election. These motivated deletions tilted the result in favour of the newly floated TVK,” Stalin said, expressing shock over the deletion of one lakh electors in Kolathur. He cited Tirupattur, Kanyakumari, Polur, Tirukkoilur and Paramathi-Velur, where the results were decided by narrow margins.DMK booth-level agents had assisted voters in enrolling during the SIR exercise. The final rolls, however, excluded the names of several genuine voters who had been living in their constituencies for years and had voted in previous elections, Stalin said.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Chennai | Silver Rate in Chennai | Bank Holidays in Chennai | Public Holidays in Chennai | Chennai AQI | Weather in Chennai | Petrol Price in Chennai | Diesel Price in Chennai | CNG Price in Chennai | LPG Price in ChennaiStay updated with the latest Chennai news. Download the TOI App.